


Save Us

by Tonight_At_Noon



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cassian POV, Crack, F/M, Fix-It, Forgive Me, but it was so much fun to write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-06
Updated: 2017-02-06
Packaged: 2018-09-22 10:57:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9604952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tonight_At_Noon/pseuds/Tonight_At_Noon
Summary: On the beach, as he holds tightly to Jyn, Cassian hears a whirring in the air. A man who calls himself the Doctor has come to rescue them. Once aboard his strange spaceship, Cassian and Jyn begin to heal and grow closer. (Jyn/Cassian with 11th Doctor)





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a weird one, but who better to save RebelCaptain than the Doctor?

_So, when you're near me,_

_Darling, can't you hear me,_

_SOS_

ABBA | SOS

* * *

  **Save Us**

* * *

 

She is clinging to him as the world around them falls to pieces. The Death Star has attacked and they are nearly dust. He is not afraid, not quite in the way he had imagined at least. He does not fear dying. Having been raised a soldier, he learned early on that life is a mere flickering candle. One swift blow could mean the end. He is not afraid of he light swallowing him into darkness—he is only afraid of the path he could have followed had he and Jyn managed to escape.

Images keep flashing in his mind the tighter Jyn's hold gets. He sees the two of them aiding the Rebels as they fight to destroy the Death Star. He sees them growing closer as the Empire falls, finishing what they had begun only short moments ago. How foolish he has become since meeting this criminal. But he is about to die. He can dream of whatever he pleases.

There is a whisper in his ear as the light continues its approach.

"Thank you, Cassian." It is Jyn. Her mouth is on his ear, her breath is touching his skin.

Cassian, a sick sort of excitement brewing inside of him, grips Jyn more closely. "You are most welcome," he responds, thinking of how glorious these last moments are. He would not choose to be with anybody else.

Above the screams of both Rebel and Imperial forces, above the wind slashing through the air, there is a noise. It whines and billows. Cassian opens his eyes. The sound is growing nearer. He separates himself from Jyn, confusion washing over him.

"Do you hear that?" he says loudly, staring at Jyn. She nods, looking around them. Behind Jyn, Cassian spots a flashing light. Soon, there is something attached to it. Something large and rectangular, like a large box painted blue.

"Look, look." Pointing at the object, Cassian urges Jyn to turn. She does, and he thinks he can hear her gasp.

"I don't recognise it," she shouts, turning back to him. She is afraid. The light is almost to them now.

The box lands with a trembling thump that sends a shockwave through the young pilot. Jyn falls into him and he quickly coils his arms around her protectively. Through the blinding light, Cassian watches the box open as two doors swing wide out. A figure bathed in an eerie glow steps from the blue object. He approaches them. Slowly, Cassian slides back across the sand pulling Jyn along with him.

The figure, shaped like a man, puts his hand up. In his grip is a small object with a green tip. Cassian can only think it is a lightsaber.

"We're going to die already," Jyn cries. Cassian can feel her quaking against him. "Please, don't come any closer."

Coming to a halt, the man puts his hand down. "I'm not here to hurt you," he bellows. His accent is like Jyn's. "I'm here to rescue you. Come quick. That's my spaceship back there. From the looks of things, we only have about ninety seconds before this planet's destroyed."

Adrenaline is pumping through Cassian's veins as the man speaks, pacifying the pain in his body and sparking his brain awake. He begins to stand, but Jyn holds on to his sleeve.

"I don't trust him," she says. "There's no way that spaceship can fit all three of us."

Cassian stares at her. Her hazel eyes are wide with panic. Bending to his knee, he grips her hand and squeezes. "Don't trust him," he tells her, placing their intertwined hands over his thrashing heart. "Trust me."

This does it. Jyn, a new determination settling over her face, rises to her feet. Together, they run with the man into his ship. Behind them, the doors snap shut and they are propelled inside. The man skids about. He starts pushing buttons and pulling levers, leaving Jyn and Cassian, minds racing, to take in their surroundings.

Cassian's head swivels left and right, convinced his eyes are playing tricks on him.

"It's"— he begins, only to be cut off by Jyn, whose hand is still in his.

—"Bigger on the inside," she finishes.

The man breaks from fiddling with the control panel in the centre of his ship and laughs. "Quite right you are. Now, where are we off to?"

Cassian is about to respond when the spaceship is jolted. The three of them fall to the floor, Jyn atop him. Scrambling to stand, the strange man grunts a never-mind and soon Cassian feels it as they lift off from the Imperial base. There is a whooshing noise as the spaceship flies, and within a few seconds, relief floods Cassian.

They have made it. They are alive. They are together.

Cassian allows his head to loll back and he stares at the odd spaceship's ceiling, his arms wrapped around Jyn's body as she lies quaking on top of him. Her face is buried against his chest and he cannot tell if the pressure being applied to his stomach at random intervals is her crying or laughing.

"We're okay," he whispers, bringing his hands to Jyn's hair. He strokes at the flyaway strands, his thumbs moving to her cheeks as she lifts her head. He does the same, and when their eyes meet, Cassian's throat pinches shut. Wetness stains her face and he gathers the droplets cascading from her tear ducts onto his thumbs. "We're okay," he repeats.

Jyn releases a strangled laugh. Her head collapses once more into his chest. Cassian holds her to him and casts his gaze upon their mysterious saviour. He stands by the control panel, flicking at lights every now and again. Draped over his body are peculiar clothes, complete with the oddest looking thing tied in a bow around his throat. His features scream human, but Cassian has traveled all around the galaxy on missions and he has never come across a spaceship such as this.

Steadily, Cassian sits up. He brings Jyn with him, keeping his arms locked around her as she weeps into his neck.

"I am going to stand, okay?" he informs, getting to his feet only after Jyn has nodded her agreement.

As he rights himself, Cassian is taken aback by the pain that radiates through his bones. He stumbles and is only saved from falling by Jyn's strong grasp. She eyes him with concern, but he shakes his head. He will allow himself to wallow in agony later. Not before he confronts the mysterious man with the blue box.

Cassian, with Jyn holding him as his support, walks closer to the control panel.

"Go ahead," the man says. His attention is fully on them. His eyes, Cassian notices, are so very old. "Ask your questions."

It is as if he can read their minds. Such an odd sensation. Perhaps he is some Jedi, lost to the stars.

"Who are you?" Cassian asks through heavy breaths. Krennic's blast is catching up to him.

The man pulls away from the control panel. Cassian tries to straighten, but it is too much effort. "I am the Doctor." His voice is quiet and steady. Something about it is menacing.

"What are you?"

Cassian is surprised to hear Jyn's demanding question, though he shouldn't be. There is a power to her Cassian has never before seen. She may be suffering, but she will always mask this with unbelievable strength. He admires her so.

The Doctor, standing a few inches above Cassian, looms nearer. "I'm a Time Lord," he explains. "The last of my kind."

Cassian frowns. "Time Lord? I have never heard of such a thing."

"No," the Doctor muses, "I don't suppose you would have. We come from two vastly different galaxies."

"What is it that you do, then? What is a Time Lord?" Jyn probes.

"I can travel through time and space. I help people as often as I can. There isn't much more to it than that."

"And what were you doing at Scarif? How did you know to come rescue us?"

There is a fire to Jyn's questions that appears to excite the Doctor. The corners of his mouth lift in a small, appreciative smile.

Cassian does not like it.

"My spaceship," the Doctor says, tapping the control panel. "The TARDIS—she sensed your distress and brought me to you."

"Your spaceship is alive?" Cassian's eyes flit around. A chill has settled over him.

"In a way. There is life in her."

"How do we know you aren't some bounty hunter sent for us by Darth Vader?"

The Doctor's throat jumps at Jyn's loud inquiry. He takes a moment to steady himself. "I assure you, I am in no way associated with that creature. You have my word that I am here only to return you home."

Cassian's head is spinning. Blood rushes about inside his ears, setting him off balance. If Jyn were not holding him upright, he would be sprawled across the floor.

This is a man, an alien, from another place. Another world entirely, a galaxy separate from their own. It is difficult for him to comprehend.

"You two need rest," the Doctor says, eyeing Cassian. "You're both very weak and I won't have you collapsing on my watch."

Cassian is too exhausted to be wary of this man any longer. "Jyn, please."

Jyn's jaw is clenched tightly. Her nose is slightly upturned as she waits for the Doctor to direct them to a space where they can rest. Cassian does not see any such place.

"Right. If you just go through that doorway," the Doctor says, his finger pointed at a hollow opposite the ship's entrance, "there should be a room two doors down to your right. There will be a place where you can bathe in there as well, and some fresh clothes from your galaxy."

"There is space through there?" Cassian cannot help his curiosity.

The Doctor laughs, a hearty sound that somehow calms Cassian's jumping heart. "This is the biggest spaceship in any universe. She is endless. Entire worlds are inside her walls."

This is all Jyn allows the Doctor to say before she is dragging him down a small flight steps and through the doorway. They find the room he described exactly where he said it would be. Jyn helps him inside. The first thing he notices is the lack of two beds. There is only one large mattress propped on the most magnificent wiry frame.

Beyond the bed is another door. Cassian assumes this leads to the bathroom.

As he stands just inside the room, Jyn still supporting his weight, he finds it hard to believe that only thirty minutes ago they were part of a great battle. It feels like a lifetime has passed since Krennic shot him as he and Jyn searched for the Death Star's blueprints, since the two of them were on the beach, waiting for death to snatch them in its ugly grip.

"Jyn," Cassian mumbles, a sickness coiling in his belly.

Jyn startles, quickly moving them towards the bed where she releases Cassian and allows him to finally lie down. He curls into himself. He expects Jyn to retreat into the bathroom to wash herself and change, but instead he feels the bed dip and soon she is behind him, her hand toying with his sweat-doused hair. It relaxes him greatly. Tingles spread downward from where her fingertips scratch his scalp.

It has been a long day. A long, harrowing life. They lost many soldiers on those beaches, probably more up in the sky. He can only hope Bodhi and the others managed to escape safely aboard Rogue One. Losing K-2 has been painful enough.

"We got the plans." Jyn's soft words are in his ear. "There is hope."

A gentle hand snakes around his waist. He holds it against his stomach, entwining his fingers with Jyn's. They fit so well together. How did it take him so long to see it?

"With you," he says, "there is always hope."

* * *

Cassian wakes several hours later to a foul taste in his mouth. Jyn is still with him, though they are no longer connected. Strangely, he feels better. Turning over onto his back, it is as if he was never shot at all.

He lies there for a time, thinking of their mission and of the curious Doctor who rescued them. His mind has turned to Yavin 4 when Jyn stirs beside him.

"What are you thinking about?" she implores.

Air rushes out of Cassian's lungs. "Oh, everything," he says. "How badly I need to bathe."

"Mmm," Jyn agrees impishly.

"Hey, you need to as well," he comments.

"Not as badly as you."

"I got shot. What's your excuse?"

"Um, I managed to rescue our galaxy by stealing the blueprints to the most dangerous weapon the Empire's ever built?"

As the words flood out of her mouth, Jyn's face sours in remembrance. Cassian's mind conjures the moment her father was killed for his secret allegiance to the Rebels. His eyes recall Jyn crawling over to him, begging him to wake.

Tears dribble out of the corners of Jyn's eyes. Her face reddens and pinches, and Cassian extends his arms, gathering her to him. He allows her once more to cry into his chest. Her hot sobs seep into him and he tries his best to somehow capture her sorrow.

"I'm sorry," she gasps, breaking away. Her beautiful eyes are rimmed in a light pink and her cheeks are splotchy.

"No, do not apologise," he insists, taking her head in his hands. "You are allowed to cry. To be sad. We have been through so much, Jyn. Even if we are alive, so many others are not, and it is okay to cry because of that."

She sags into him again and weeps. When her eyes dry, it is decided between them that they will bathe. Feeling stronger than he ever has, Cassian slides from the bed and walks to the bathroom. It is not as lavish as he was expecting, but its bathtub is deep and long.

He sets the water running. He cannot wait to be free of this blood and dirt.

Jyn enters behind him carrying two clean, large towels. As they wait, they make use of the toothbrushes by the basin, taking turns to gargle mouthwash.

Silently, they remove their torn and red-stained clothes, the atmosphere free of worry and unease. They step inside the bath at either end once Cassian twists the taps off. They face each other, the water reaching just below Jyn's neck and his chest.

"Will people believe us?" Jyn asks as Cassian hands her the small bottle of soap he found. It smells of lavender. "About the Doctor?"

Cassian shrugs. "How else do we explain our escape? They will believe us."

"Yeah, but he's talking about different galaxies and being able to travel through space and time in this spaceship that's shaped like a blue, rectangular box that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside."

"Your point?"

Jyn splashes bubbles in Cassian's direction. He laughs, and it feels so good. "Maybe we shouldn't tell them," she suggests. "If word gets out that there's a weird alien man from another universe who can time travel, someone is going to want to use him."

"Now that you mention it, maybe we should say we escaped on some other ship."

The pair wash in relative peace, speaking only every now and then about nonsensical things. They will leave the battle on the Imperial base to rest for a little while.

Mostly, Cassian watches Jyn. He watches the water move over her, watches her body come up as she rinses the soap from her hair. Occasionally, he will catch her watching him, too.

When they are clean and their skin is warped from spending so long beneath water, they climb from the bathtub and dry themselves off. The bathroom is steamed from the heat of the water, but the humidity feels nice. Exiting the bathroom, Cassian heads for the wardrobe to find clothes. Jyn's hand wrapping around his wrist stops him.

"Wait," she whispers heavily. Her towel is lying in a pile by her feet. She inches closer to him, the heat from her body clouding his mind.

"Jyn . . ."

"Shhh," she soothes, and he is already willing to surrender.

Like the fool he is, Cassian submits.

Jyn's lips are soft between his. Her skin is like the smoothest silk. She guides him backwards on top of the bed and their bodies join together in a sweet, slow movement.

When it is over, they dress in the spare clothes the Doctor mentioned and climb back on the bed. Like before, they fall asleep in each other's arms.

* * *

Cassian observes the Doctor as he flies his peculiar spaceship. He runs about like a madman, but he seems to always know where he is going. Jyn is beside him fiddling with some switches.

It has already been two days since the Doctor rescued them from a collapsing Scarif. Mostly, he and Jyn have been resting. But they are returning to the Rebel base today. Their time with the Doctor has come to an end.

"You mentioned you were the last of your kind," Cassian says. The Doctor stops what he is doing and lifts his head towards Cassian. "What did you mean?"

"I meant exactly that. There are no other Time Lords. Only me."

"But how?" he prods.

"A war, much like the one you're fighting," the Doctor explains, his tone hollow. "Only this one was far more devastating. It resulted in the destruction of my people."

"So you've fought before?" Jyn asks.

The Doctor nods slowly. "I have fought many battles. On many different planets in many different universes."

"Wait," Jyn says in a way that makes the room grow still. Even the Doctor's spaceship seems to be listening. "Do you know what's going to happen with the Empire? Do you know the future of our galaxy?"

The Doctor takes longer to respond to this. Eventually, he sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "I do, but I can't tell you anything. It's very much against the rules. Very much."

Jyn's face falls. "Nothing?"

"Argh!" the Doctor exclaims. This time, he runs two hands through his hair.

"Doctor, we're terrified of going back. We have no clue if our fellow soldiers can destroy the Death Star, or if Darth Vader is even capable of dying"—

—"There will be an end to Darth Vader," the Doctor interrupts, seemingly unable to help himself. "But that's all I can say," he warns.

"But who will stop him?" Cassian begs, his eyes having grown wide. "How can we believe you?"

"Oh . . . There is a boy," the Doctor sighs. "A great warrior. He will play a part in Vader's demise. But really, that is all. I. Can. Say."

"It is enough," Cassian concludes, a great thrill running through him. He takes Jyn's hand absently and squeezes. "Thank you, Doctor."

"Right, well, we're almost to Yavin. I'll be sure to land somewhere no one will find the TARDIS. Nobody will know I was there," he says, returning to the control panel.

Jyn faces him, her head tilted upwards. "We did it," she breathes.

"You did it, Jyn. You were the one who found the plans, who managed to send them up," he rectifies. "The others and I only helped."

Her mouth slips into a smile. He has decided this is his favourite still of her. Happy and excited. It is miles better than her sadness. He will fight for the rest of his life to keep her from being sad.

The Doctor announces their decent to Yavin. The landing is not smooth, but they are now with the other Rebels. They can help destroy the Death Star using the fatal flaw Jyn's father built inside.

"Where will you go?" Jyn asks the Doctor as they prepare to exit.

"I was thinking of going to live with some monks," he says, "but I haven't made up my mind yet. Go on, you two. Your galaxy needs you."

With Jyn's hand in his, Cassian is ready to depart. "Thank you, Doctor. I will always remember you."

The Doctor grins. "You better," he says.

Jyn and Cassian exit the TARDIS, watching it disappear as its loud engine echoes around them. Once it has gone, they begin their trek to the Rebel base, ready for the fight that is about to come.

* * *

  _And the love you gave me,_

_Nothing else can save me_


End file.
